Cast Away

good morning, darling
I hope you slept well
I spent a langorous night on the floor
buffetted by song
the last few weeks I've noticed a shadow
in the solarium
It vaguely reminded me of something but what
I couldn't even figure out the source
it looked like a face
crazy hair up top, carrot nose
it shook and shook on the wall
though nothing in the room seemed to be moving
the pellet stove seemed to make that thing move
I'd look at the figure shakin and movin
and eventually figured out it was the maidenhair fern in a pot
casting its recursion on the cave wall
the only maidenhair I've ever managed not to kill
this morning on the grotty polyester comforter
in the guest room
(how I long for cotton, nice soft cotton, and you)
I rolled over and greeted the palm
and the synapses started firing
Wilson
that was the image on the wall
what's that Tom Hanks movie where he
crashes to earth and is
stranded on a desert island
he makes a friend out of a stranded basketball, I think
let me repeat: he makes it
(factchecker: volleyball)
his dearest figurine friend
he names Wilson
Wilson gets lost
I'm so happy Mr. Hanks got his girl.
(Now which came first
the _______, or the
idea of the _________.)

***

Fragment from an unfinished story, saved to Word 21 March 2009

There wasn’t anything more to be said at the moment. I felt tired and suddenly sleep sounded like a good idea.

“Come on, let’s go to bed,” I said. Before exiting the parlor I switched off the sconces, pitching the room into blackness. We tiptoed upstairs to our rooms, and bid each other goodnight in the hallway. Before slipping into bed, I changed back into my nightgown, and though I haven’t slept with him or any other stuffed animal in a very long time, I picked Teddy up from the chair and fell asleep with my arms around him.